Unalaska, AK – Last week, the Aleutian Islands Risk Assessment project completed released a 350-page study looks at the impacts oil spills could have on the region and how to prevent them.

This draft builds upon previous baseline spill study and vessel traffic reports, and it examines 16 different risk scenarios across six separate locations across the Aleutian Islands. The scenarios model different types of accidents that could occur with different vessel types and weather conditions. The draft also looks at the effects that oil spills in the Aleutian region could have on local economies and subsistence harvests.

Leslie Pearson is a member of the AIRA facilitation team. She says that the report is the culmination of Phase A of the project, and that Phase B will begin in March and focus on implementation.

"Some risk reduction options might be implemented right after Phase A, and there may be one or two that need further research in terms of cost-benefit analysis that will be carried over to Phase B," says Pearson. "But you know the whole intent is that anything that might be easy to implement at this point in time, we recommend it to be implemented."

She suggests that increasing the number of emergency towing systems in the Aleutian Islands would be an example of a risk reduction strategy that could adopted immediately.

Work began on the Aleutian Island Risk Assessment project after the grounding of the Selendang Ayu in 2004, which resulted in a 338,000-gallon oil spill. The project's worked has seen renewed interest in the past month, after concerns that the cargo vessel Golden Seas was in danger of running aground near Atka.

The AIRA facilitation team will be accepting comments on the report through January 5, 2011.